The Yankees were at very real risk of losing this one, and losing stupidly. It would have been an ugly end to a night that saw great pitching from two young, up and coming studs, and Aaron Judge continuing to keep pace in the AL MVP race. A trio of clutch hits in the 11th inning meant that those sparkling moments weren’t in vain, as the Yankees won their seventh straight topping the White Sox 5-3 in extra innings.
I get a lot of Gerrit Cole vibes from Cam Schlittler. The frame is similar, the heat
is similar, and for a rookie pitcher he has a fair amount of the “I am personally offended you stepped in the box against me” vibe that’s helped make Cole what he is. Schlittler had another strong game today, matching All Star Shane Smith inning for inning
Perhaps most impressively was how Schlittler reacted to a comebacker off his right arm in the fifth inning, 102 mph off the bat of Brooks Baldwin. Cam recovered, got Baldwin at first, and struck out Chase Meidroth to get the second out of the inning. He did allow an RBI single from old friend Mike Tauchman, but sat down Kyle Teel to end the frame.
Not only did Cam get through that, but Aaron Boone trusted him in the sixth as well, despite having Tim Hill ready and lefties as two of the three scheduled hitters. Schlittler did allow Andrew Benintendi to reach on a dribbler that Ryan McMahon just couldn’t backhand. The other three hitters he faced that inning went down strikeout, strikeout, easy flyout.
There’s still things Cam Schlittler needs to get better at, like every young pitcher, but boy has he become must-watch TV in the early days of his MLB career.
Shane Smith was just as good as Schlittler, we saw a really good preview of young pitching in the league. Unfortunately for Mr. Smith, he had to be introduced to Aaron Judge:
Smith was pretty well on cruise control outside of that, navigating a tough sixth inning when shortstop Colson Montgomery got a little too fancy on what should have been a double play. He made it into the seventh, before Austin Wells got us all fired up:
And then, once again, we got the Devin Williams Experience. Just as Ryan Ruocco was telling us how strong Williams has been over his last eight appearances, #7 hitter Curtis Mead boomed a double to right field, and came around to tie the game on Curtis Meidroth’s single a batter later.
Yes, relievers give up runs sometimes, as the saying goes even Mo blew games. But there is no comfort, and no confidence, felt when Williams enters the game. Indeed, I am increasingly worried Devin has cost himself so much money this winter that the Yankees will try to bring him back on the cheap.
After the Devin Williams Experience, we took a ride on the Extra Innings on the Road Coaster, which went about as well as it always does. Anthony Volpe managed a nice sac bunt to move Wells to third, which was followed by Ryan McMahon bouncing into a fielder’s choice that had Wells dead to rights at home. Fortunately, David Bednar did yeoman’s work in pitching two shutout innings, including a huge strikeout of Lenyn Sosa in the tenth with the winning run at third.
Paul Goldschmidt pinch-hit in the 11th, advancing Grisham to third. The White Sox didn’t let Aaron Judge hit, intentionally walking him for the 30th time this season. Cal Raleigh has been intentionally walked 12 times, just sayin’.
With two on, Cody Bellinger stayed clutch:
Now, on the road in extras you really want a crooked number, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. obliged:
There was a very stupid squeeze bunt attempt that I audibly yelled “STOP” at my television over, but I don’t want to talk about that. Instead, let’s talk about Anthony Volpe adding insurance:
Camilo Doval worked the bottom half of the inning, and while he did allow the Manfred Man to score on a groundout, he got the three outs he needed and locked up the win. The Yankees now sit 1.5 games clear of Boston in the Wild Card race, and are just two full games behind Toronto for the AL East title. Don’t look now, but September is going to be a hell of a month.
This was always the game the Yankees were going to have the most trouble with, purely because of how much talent Shane Smith has. You can choose to see this as a game the Yankees backed their way into winning, and that’s fair. I’m going to choose to see it as a gutsy win, even if it wasn’t as clean as it could have been. The Yankees can finish this series with a sweep tomorrow, with Luis Gil on the mound and a 2:10 pm Eastern first pitch.
